The Brilliant Not! Plan
by keikrem
Summary: When Hermione gets dumped by Viktor Krum, Harry, in a desperate attemt to make her happy again comes up with a plan to get them back together. Laugh out loud humor follows with nothing turning out as planned. Meanwhile, Harry slowly realzizes that he may
1. Default Chapter

"I knew it! I _knew_ it!"

Harry and Ron's heads snapped up to see Hermione slam down a stack of books three feet high and sit down with a thump on the chair behind the towering stack.

"What?" Harry asked, setting down his quill to push the stack of books to the side so he and Ron could see her face, red with fury glowering over a piece of paper.

"What?" Ron asked again staring at her. "What's up?"

Hermione shook her head, talking to herself. "You know, I knew this was going to happen, but I didn't think he'd be so keen on it…." She reread some of the parchment again.

Harry and Ron looked at each other; Harry wondering whether Ron understood a thing of what she was saying. Clearly, Ron didn't.

"What?" They both asked.

"….and of course to be quite frank I was never keen on the whole idea, however, I don't want him to hate me…."

"_What?_" Harry asked.

"….and I knew he was interested in all that and he told me before, but of course I was only trying to be nice…..

"Uh….Hermione?" Both Harry and Ron were baffled.

"….so I wrote him constantly and then he's going off to that great match and he needs to be ready so I really don't think that….."

Finally, Ron gave up and looked down at his Potions essay again. Harry followed suit. Hermione, looking up, saw that both of them were absorbed in their work again, not paying any attention to her news.

"Don't you want to know what's up?" she asked angrily.

Harry and Ron stared at her.

Harry stuttered. "Well, we've asked a total of three times already and you don't seem to be hearing a word that we've said so…."

Hermione let out a sigh and sat back in the chair. "Guess what."

Ron lost it. "WHAT?"

Hermione handed over the parchment to them; something Harry felt could have been done earlier instead of guessing.

Harry and Ron bent closer to read the parchment, apparently a letter.

_Dear Hermione, _

_It makes me sad very to write this to you. It puts me in bad spirits and that is never good. I am doing fine and well, my Quidditch matches however are making I very busy and I can not, unfortunately see you this summer. Not at all do I think. My team wants me to focus on game and not on girl. I am very sorry. Go date Harry Potter…..I know you like him because of Skeeter Rita's essay in magazine. He likes you too. I talk to him in woods, he like you. I say good bye, never to say hello again…._

_Good bye never to say hello again_.

Viktor Krum

Harry and Ron stared at the letter for a minute, not quite taking in the odd English and weird grammatical places. Finally Ron found his voice long enough to say incredulously, "_It puts me in bad spirits and that is never good_? What in bloody hell does that mean? Who's he trying to be? Shakespeare? What a git!"

Harry looked at Hermione who was sitting with her arms crossed, the anger falling form her face, now being replaced with an expression that showed just how miserable she really was.

"So…is he breaking up with you then?" Harry asked slowly.

Harry stared at the letter and then did a double take. "Hey…wait…this says that I…."

Hermione shrugged." Well, apparently something you said in the forest when you were with him there 2 years ago made him think that…."

Harry looked at her. "I didn't say I liked you…I mean…..I _like_ you…..but…I never told him….I never said that… I…._where did he get this_?"

Hermione shrugged slowly and then burst into tears. Ron stopped laughing at the phrasing in the letter and looked at Hermione concerned. Both of them stood up and went over to her.

Harry instantly become worried that it was something he had just said. "Hey…hey Hermione…don't get me wrong….I _do_ like you, you know……I mean….you're my best friend…."

Hermione shook her head. "No…it's not that…..It's just that I didn't think he'd, well, dump me like this!"

Then she shook her head. "No, I change that, we weren't really "going out" so he couldn't really have dumped me…..but I _really_ liked him."

Ron shook the letter in front of her face. "Just forget about him Hermione, he's a git anyway, I mean to say, look at this letter! _I say good bye never to say hello again_….."

Hermione glared at Ron. "But I _really_ liked Viktor, Ron! I mean, he didn't have to like, you know, date me or anything, as long as we could still be friends, but to blow me off completely like this, and then to suggest that I date Harry…..." She buried her face in her arms again.

Ron laughed softly. "That might not be a bad idea."

Hermione jumped up.

"_No_!" She shrieked. "I can't…I can't do that….."

Harry pushed his hair out of his eyes, feeling like a thrown away piece of trash.

"Ron….just drop it okay?"

Ron shut up and busied himself rereading the letter. Hermione glared at the pair of them.

"You two are so stupid."

She stood up abruptly and snapped sarcastically, "Thanks for the help."

Harry and Ron watched her storm up the stairs, leaving, Harry noticed, her letter in Ron's hands.

"Wow…" Ron whistled softly under his breath. "That went well."

Harry frowned at him. "Why'd you have to go and bring me into it?"

"What d'you mean? Viktor was the one who put you into the letter; obviously something you said or did must have triggered him to think that you liked Hermione."

"All I said was that….well, that we were friends. That's all"

Ron contemplated. "Then it must have been that Skeeter cow's article." He said finally. "He does mention it in his little sonnet of a letter here. Yup, that must be it."

Harry groaned. "Oh my Gosh that was two years ago and everyone knows she's bogus. Can't he get over it?"

They both sat there staring at each other and the letter.

"Well," Ron said with a sigh, "We're going to have to find some way to get Hermione back on good terms with us, because that Potions essay is due in a week and I have no clue how to do it…."

Harry nodded. "I'll think of something."

He thought about it for a minute then sat bolt up-right. "Ron! I've got it! I've got a brilliant idea."

Ron stared at him. "The only way this plan will work is if she and Krum get back together in the 7 days before that potions essay."

Harry cut him off impatiently. "If we do it right, it'll work great. We just can't make any mistakes. And Hermione can't have a clue what we're doing…."

_To be Continued……_


	2. The Plan

"So….what do you have in mind?"

Ron leaned in to hear what Harry's "brilliant plan" was. Harry grinned wickedly.

"Ok, we're going to write Hermione a letter."

"Ok…."

"It'll be from Krum." He waited to hear Ron's approval or at least admiration from such a good plan. Instead….

"_What_? Are you crazy? There is absolutely no way I can copy this English crap he's written. For the thousandth time, do you think it's even humanly possible to come up with phrases like, 'I say good bye never to say hello again'?"

Harry sighed in exasperation. "Ron, we can get around that, just write in Yoda talk. What we really need is a good reason for him to have decided to get together again with Hermione. And we also need a place for them to meet. And, we need to write a letter to Krum from Hermione."

Ron yelped at this. "We need to write a letter to Krum from Hermione? That's insanity Harry. All right, so we can handle writing stupid catch phrases, but Hermione writes like she's addressing the prime minister. There's no possible way to copy that!"

"For you maybe. I've read enough that's she's written I think I have a good idea of how it should sound. All we need to do is send both letters, and then they meet in the place that we've designated. We make the circumstances surrounding the meeting very romantic and _boom_, they're back together."

Ron had sat back down and was staring at Harry. "You think we can pull this off?"

"Nope, not for sure anyway, but lets face it. I'm the reason Krum broke up with Hermione and she's very unhappy, so maybe if we just got them back together then she's be happy, I'd be off the hook and you'd get your potions essay done correctly."

"Yeah, that potions essay is the most important part Harry. If she doesn't help me with it, I'm doomed. I'm worse then doomed. I'm dead already."

Harry wasn't listening. He ran over to Hermione's paper stash and pulled out 2 sheets and 2 quills.

"All right Ron. Considering the two of us, I think you need to write the letter from Krum. I'll write the one from Hermione. I think we should have them meet at, I dunno, Hogsmeade? He can get down here by apparating so that'll work. Just make sure he sounds very sorry."

"B-But…."

"Think Yoda…."

"Right." Ron stared at the parchment. Then he looked up grinning. "This is gonna be fun. I can mess with her mind…."

"Ron, don't do anything that'll mess this plan up. Think potions too."

Ron's face took over a serious expression and he bent over the parchment, trying to copy the handwriting on the original letter.

Harry bent over the letter for Krum. What would Hermione write in a situation like this? Would she be sad? Hurt? Angry and upset?

He stopped and looked down at the letter. Why was he doing this? He didn't even like Krum all that much and he wasn't too thrilled about Hermione dating him either.

"Ron, wait…..um….are you sure about this? I mean, we don't have to try and get them back together you know…."

Ron looked up. "Are you kidding me? I'm on a roll with this grammatically incorrect letter! What's the matter? I thought you wanted to get them together!"

Harry stared. Did he? Did he really want to get Hermione and Krum together? No. He decided with a small sigh. He was only doing this so Hermione would be happier.

"Yeah." he lied to Ron. "Yeah, of course I want them together."

He bent down, tried to get into a 'Hermione state of mind" and wrote the letter.

Viktor

I have just received the letter on which you addressed the matter of splitting up. I'd like to ask you to make arrangements to meet me in front of the Three Broomsticks on Feb. 14th so we can discuss this matter in person and not by owl.

Thank you.

Hermione

Harry looked up, noting that this was probably the shortest letter Hermione would ever write. It was probably over the top, but at least it sounded okay. Ron was busy scribbling, taking random peeks at the real letter next to him to copy the handwriting.

He finished with a flourish. "There! That should do it. Lots of grammatical letters and just some bits to mess with her."

Harry gave a small smile, already regretting this whole plan. "You did say, Three Broomsticks Feb 14th right?"

"Oh yeah, that's the date all right….."

A week later, Harry and Ron were once again sitting in the common room doing homework in a state of gloom.

Suddenly, the portrait hole burst open and Hermione came running in.

"Harry! Ron! Look! I've gotten another letter from Krum."

Both Harry and Ron choked. Already? Harry closed his eyes praying that Ron had written it somewhat Krum-ish and not Ron-ish trying to tease Hermione.

She sat down with a flourish and handed it to them. "Read it and tell me what you think."

Ron and Harry gulped and looked at each other. Harry took the note out of Hermione's hands and opened it up. Trembling slightly he read it.

Dearest Hermione,

What I want is you. Wrong I was to put out you like that. The guys on my Quidditch team mean them nothing to me. Mean everything you do to me. Forgive me please? I'd like to have the pleasure of you to meet me at the Hogs Head on Feb 14th so talk we can. I love you very much I do, and lose you I don't want. Now say good bye to say hello again I must.

Goodbye to say hello again

Viktor Krum

Harry looked up in horror and Ron who was grinning widely apparently very pleased with himself. Hermione was watching to the two of them.

"Well, what do you think?"

Harry nodded mutely, not daring to kick Ron very hard in the shins right in front of Hermione.

"Oh, I'd go, definitely. Sounds like he's really sorry about the last letter. But don't write back to him. Wait till after the date at the um…Hogs Head. Then you won't look desperate. He really wants you back I think."

Hermione smiled. "You think so?"

Ron sat up. "Tell me Hermione, what do you think of the sentence structure of this letter?"

Hermione looked down at the letter and studied it, a small smile playing at her lips. "Frankly, it's horrible….but…"

"Good." Ron said with a satisfied smirk.

Hermione stood up and took the letter and raced off to show Lavender and Parvati.

"RON! You GIT!"

Ron snapped out of his satisfied trance. "What?"

"You told her to meet Krum at the Hogs Head in the letter. I told you to tell her the Three Broomsticks. Now they're gonna show up at different places!"

Ron gulped. "But…we don't have enough time to send another letter…what do we do?"

Harry thought. "Well, if they both get to the places we told them to get, we can set up the romantic setting where Hermione is. We'll get the restaurant to do something for them. Then, you can usher Krum to where Hermione is. I'll wait with her."

Ron nodded. "Ok…so no harm done?"

"Well, except for the 'Goodbye to say hello' line…... That's awful!"

To be continued…….


	3. The Slip Up

February the 14th was getting closer and closer, and Harry had still not decided how on earth he was going to make sure that Hermione and Krum got to the same place at the same time. Ron's little letter blunder had messed everything up for his plan, but it was ok by him. He wasn't really into it anymore. It felt odd setting to people up when you didn't really want them to get together because you really cared for one of them.

He and Ron were walking through Hogsmeade with Hermione one Saturday, a week before the big date. Hermione was in good spirits and happily looking forward to her get together with Krum. Ron was very pleased with himself, now that is error had been deemed reversible. Harry was feeling a little down because he wanted to just call it off, but it was too late, Krum and Hermione had both gotten their letters.

"Ooh, let's go in here!" Hermione said, looking inside a new bookshop that had just opened.

Ron and Harry looked at each other and seized their chance.

"Umm, Hermione, why don't you go? We'll just go into Quality Quidditch Supplies is that alright?"

Hermione looked a little disappointed that they didn't want to accompany her into the fascinating realm of endless shelves and books, but she said, "All rightly, I'll meet you there after I have a peek around."

She went inside. Ron and Harry waited till she was out of view and then dashed off to the Three Broomsticks.

"How long do you think we've got till she comes out of there?" Ron huffed.

"At least an hour, it's a book shop for goodness sake."

They reached the Three Broomsticks and went inside. It wasn't very crowded and they made it to the front desk without banging into anybody.

Madam Rosmerta came up to the counter. "What can I get for you two boys?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other. Harry gulped at Ron's nudge and then he turned to Madam Rosmerta with a fake smile.

"See, we have this friend. She just broke up with her boyfriend and we're trying to get them together again. They're going to meet here on Feb. 18th and we sort of wanted a little surprise waiting for them, if that's possible?"

Madame Rosmerta smiled her toothy smile. "Sure honey, we do it all the time. I'll just need to know the names of the happy couple."

"Hermione Granger and Harry Potter" Harry said without thinking. Ron whipped around to stare at him.

"I…I…. I mean Krum. Viktor Krum" He was going so read he could feel the heat coming off of his face. Ron was still gaping at him as Madame Rosmerta suspiciously scratched out his own name and put Krum's down.

Why? Why had he done such a stupid thing? Of all the times to let his mind do the talking instead of his mouth. Madame Rosmerta gave hi a little sheet of paper.

"If you can just have them here at the same time, then you can run over to me when you got them where you want them and I'll handle the rest."

Harry nodded. He and Ron slowly made their way out of the store.

"Oh and one more thing honey." Madame Rosmerta called form behind them.

"Yes?" He and Ron turned.

"Red roses or white?"

"Umm, red. Definitely red."

He left the Three Broomsticks trying to sink into the floor as he left.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron asked as soon as the tinkling bells closed behind them. "Why did you say that? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

Harry glared at him. "Just shut up about it, Ron. I didn't mean to say it, it just popped out."

Ron smirked. "Oh yeah right Harry. C'mon, tell me the truth. Are you in love with Hermione?"

Harry slowly crossed his fingers under his cloak. "No. I'm not. I want Krum and Hermione to get back together, I've already formulated this plan, and I want it to run smoothly form here on out. Ok? Let's just forget about it."

Ron sighed. "Yeah, ok…I believe you. Don't blow up at me…."

"Sorry."

All in all, they were much quieter as they headed back towards the Bookshop to meet Hermione.

Hermione came out almost the minute they walked up, glowing. "There are so many new books in there! You should see it! It's fascinating!"

"Awe inspiring I'm sure" Ron muttered under his breath.

Harry however wasn't looking at Hermione. He was scuffing one toe on the ground, trying not to go red.

Hermione looked at him for a minute. "Harry…are you okay?"

"W-What?"

"Are you ok? You look kinda….I dunno…"

Harry shrugged. "I'm fine. Shall we go back to the castle?"

Hermione shook her head. "Actually I was thinking we might head up to the three Broomsticks for a drink…."

"NO!" Harry and Ron shouted together. Harry panicked. They couldn't go back in there, not after what he'd just done.

Now Hermione was really confused. "I don't what's wrong with you two. You both seem very odd. What's going on? Tell me!"

Ron and Harry looked up, trying to appear innocent. It didn't work at all.

"C'mon, I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything…I won't laugh I swear."

Harry shook his head. "Nothing, you'll find out later...drop it ok?"

"B-but…"

"Drop it!"

Hermione followed suit behind them, rather sullen that she was out on something. Harry was feeling miserable. He didn't like keeping Hermione out of the loop. It was never the same to plan something unless all of them were in it together. Plotting somehting without Hermione was like trying to invent the theory of relativity without Einstein. It just didn't work as planned.

They made their way back up to the castle. Ron, having fun reciting his own letter form Krum to Hermione, gloating it in its full glory.

Harry was pondering. Feb the 14th was only a few days away. And he still had yet to solve the problem of the meeting places. He needed to get both Krum and Hermione in the same place in the Three Broomsticks without making letting Hermione figure out he knew the plan. He wasn't supposed to know anything after all.

And doing all of it without Ron screwing thing up or him telling random bartenders his love for Hermione….?

This was going to be difficult.


	4. The Big Date

February the 14th arrived.

Harry woke up not wanting to get out of bed, and when he finally did (due to Ron's instance that they get to Hogsmeade early so that he could watch Krum arrive) he ended up putting his socks on his hands and didn't realize they were there until Lavender Brown told him at breakfast.

Hermione came down 15 minutes after they did looking prettier then usual, Harry noticed. Her hair was very neatly combed she didn't have what Ron called the mountain (her normally huge backpack) on her back.

"Morning!"

Ron looked up and smirked at her appearance. "Getting all dressed up are we?"

Hermione frowned at him. "You, Ronald, are just jealous that I never dress up nice for you."

Ron smirked again, looking at his plate. Then he muttered, "At least I can speak English correctly. Old Yoda can't find a coherent sentence with two hands a flashlight and his Quidditch abilities!"

Only Harry could hear him, and he managed a small smile.

Hermione began dishing herself eggs, looking happier than usual. "Are you going to come with me into Hogsmeade?"

"Come into Hogsmeade we won't. Stay here we will." Ron quipped.

"Ron!" Both Harry and Hermione were getting annoyed now.

"So sorry I am." Ron murmured, grinning wickedly.

"Honestly Ron, I'm almost glad you're not coming because you'd end up doing that stupid talk in front of Krum and insult him."

"So what…? He couldn't do anything to me.' Ron puffed out his chest impressively.

"Yeah, but the two beaters on his Quidditch team can. I hear their clubs are made of solid cedar wood. You'll have to let me know." She grinned affectionately at him.

That shut Ron up very quickly.

They finished eating breakfast and Hermione smoothed her hair. "How do I look?"

Harry smiled. "Amazing."

She smiled nervously at him, and then looked at Ron. "Well, aren't you going to say something? Wait...no...don't…."

Ron threw his arm casually around her, grinned and quipped, "Wish you good luck do I.!"

She snorted. "That's awful Ron. Really awful."

Harry looked at his watch. "Hermione…aren't you going a bit early?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm going to go early so I can read some of the new books from the bookstore while I'm waiting for him. I hope he's on time. If he's not, I'm leaving.

Harry and Ron looked at each other. Ron was choking on the idea of reading while waiting for a date, but he swallowed his sarcastic remark.

"Ok, well, here I go. I'll tell you how everything goes, ok? Wish me luck!"

She hugged them both and ran off to join the others going to Hogsmeade for Valentines Day.

The minute she was out of sight, Harry and Ron threw the invisibility cloak over themselves and followed her.

When they arrived in Hogsmeade, they followed Hermione to the Hogs Head. She went inside, found a seat by the window and settled in to read a stack of 8 books she'd brought.

Ron gaped. "Bloody Hell, how late does she think he's going to be? That's 5 weeks worth of reading that is…"

Harry grabbed his arm and dragged him off towards an alley on the side of the pub. "We need to get Hermione away from the Hogs Head and to the Three Broomsticks, on time so she can be there to get her little surprise from Madame Rosmerta!."

Ron shook his head. "We can't both do that without telling her that we're the ones who wrote the letter, it just won't work…."

Harry slumped against the wall on the side of the pub. "So, how do we do it?"

"Physic readings?" Ron suggested with a mock grin.

"Ron, get real."

"We could go all the way back to the Three Broomsticks, and you could use the summoning charm to summon Hermione!"

"And have the entirety of Hogsmeade see Hermione flying through the air at 70 km per hour floating on wand sparks? They'd think we're trying to kidnap her for ransom from Krum. I'd love to try explaining that to the Dementors." Harry shook his head.

"What we need is a reason for her to go to the Three Broomsticks instead. Then, she'd see Krum there and forget the reason she came in the first place!"

Ron stared at him. "What if she doesn't forget?"

"I dunno."

Ron snapped his fingers, suddenly pushing himself off the wall. "I've got it! You run back to the Hogs Head and get Hermione. Tell her that Krum had…um…just written her a letter that we just got at the castle and um…that she needs to go to the three broomsticks instead! Then…"

"…she'll go to the three broomsticks with me and she'll think the surprise there was from him!" Harry finished gloomily.

"What? Isn't that a good plan?" Ron asked, looking at the glum look on Harry's face.

"Oh yeah, it's really good actually but…."

"But what?"

"It's just that….well…"

Ron suddenly got a look a dawning apprehension on his face. "You set up the surprise with the flowers and you don't want Krum to get the credit for doing it and Hermione to love him even more because she thinks he did it right?"

"Yeah." Harry said, surprised Ron figured it all out exactly as it really was.

"You DO love Hermione!" Ron said with a grin. "C'mon now you can admit it. You've given it away already anyhow.

Harry shook his head. "She loves Krum. I'm not going to get involved in that. I don't want a love triangle or any trouble. I just want Hermione to be happy."

Ron smirked. "Yeah, you want her to be happy…with you."

"No! Please, Ron, we've already gotten this far. Let's just go through with this as though it's still the same as it always was. You go to the Three Broomsticks and make sure Krum doesn't leave. I'll get Hermione and get her down there in time for the surprise. Ok?"

Ron nodded, a little disappointed that Harry hadn't agreed with gusto to go running into the Hogs Head, confess his undying love for Hermione and then steal her away from Krum.

Ron turned and trotted off towards the three Broomsticks with the invisibility cloak under one arm. Harry went over to the back of the alley and ran in place for 4 minutes until he felt good and worn. Then he ran into the Hogs Head, trying to look as though he'd just ran all the way form Hogwarts to get to her in time.

"Harry! What on earth…?"

"Hermione….you've got to go…got to go to the Three Broomsticks!"

Hermione looked up from the top book, very confused. "Why?"

Harry slowly crossed his fingers under his robes. He hated lying to Hermione. Normally it was about Homework, and normally after every lie he'd told to her, he'd gotten a reprimand.

"Ron and I just received this letter that was sent to you from Krum and he uh…wants to meet at the Three Broomsticks instead."

"Why?" Hermione asked again, starting to pack up her books.

"I dunno…..maybe he has something planned."

That was stupid, he thought angrily to himself. Now Hermione would know something fishy was up.

Hermione however, took what he said without question, loading all her books into her bag and setting them in the corner. "I'll leave these here and come back to get them later after I meet Viktor."

Harry nodded and then held the door open for her.

"So what did the letter say?"

"The letter? Oh! The letter! Yeah, well, he wanted to know if you could meet him and the Three Broomsticks instead of the hogshead. He said you'd find out later why."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks for coming out here to get me. That was really nice of you…."

Harry nodded curtly. He led her all the way to the Three Broomsticks not looking her in the eye. She seemed keen on talking with him, but he just answered in short curt sentences and didn't try to add to the conversation.

When they got outside the Three Broomsticks Hermione turned to him.

"Come in with me?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Come in with me?"

Harry stared at Hermione. Her eyes were very big and she looked nervous.

"Hermione…I can't just….you have to do this…."

Hermione sighed. "Yeah, I know."

She smiled. "Well, he did write me to come here so it must be good."

Harry nodded, seeing Ron in his head, bent over a piece of parchment coming up with his abysmal letter for Hermione. He hoped that when she talked to Krum, Krum wouldn't mention the fact that he had gotten a letter from her too. That would ruin everything.

She sighed again, this time happily. "Well, then I'll be right out." She took a deep breath, and then turned towards the door of the Three Broomsticks.

Harry watched her get closer and closer to the door, and then, something seized him. ''Hermione! Wait!"

She stopped. "What?"

"I'm coming with you. Just in case something goes wrong, I don't…."

"What?"

Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair, not knowing quite how to put this. "I just don't want anything to happen to you." He was lying again. The little voice in his head seemed to be screeching, telling him not to lie to Hermione. His potions grade depended on it.

In truth he wanted to be in there to prevent Krum from spoiling the plan. Or Hermione from accidentally spoiling it for that matter.

Hermione smiled, "That's really sweet of you Harry."

She opened the door, took one last breath and went in. Harry was right behind her, intent on going to sit in a corner seat and watch the entire encounter. The first thing he saw when he entered was Ron sitting by the bar, and Krum, sitting all by himself, looking sour. He gulped looking widely around for Beater body guards with the wood bats but he saw none. He breathed in a huge sigh of relief trying to push past all the people in the pub. Then, as he reached the center of the room he heard….

"One Two Three… hit it!"

And then it happened.

BANG!

Confetti was flying down out of nowhere, there were red roses everywhere, there was a spotlight on him and Hermione and everybody was staring at them, cheering. A band materialized out of nowhere playing love songs in a continuous medley.

Harry looked at Hermione in horror. Then he looked over at Krum who was standing up, coming over to them. Harry tired to back away; to let Krum come in and stand in the middle with Hermione, but somebody in the pub shoved him back.

"Don't run away! Go on! Kiss her!"

"Yeah! Kiss her!"

"Give her a big smooch!"

Hermione was in shock, looking widely around at Harry. "What's going on? What's this for?" She was shouting so to be heard over chants of "Kiss her! Kiss him!" and the band playing louder and louder.

Harry shook his head, and then he slipped up again. He yelled, "I dunno, this wasn't supposed to happen this way!"

"What? You KNEW about this?"

Oops.

Ron came running forward, shoving past the spectators all throwing red roses everywhere. The people in the pub were ecstatic at the drama and they were clearly enjoying all of this.

Ron looked worried.

"Hey, Harry, what happened?"

Harry was going so red he couldn't even look at Hermione. His eyes actually, were fixed on Krum who was cracking his knuckles and looking very menacing. Harry backed away slowly.

"Ummm… I think this has all just been a really big mistake, and Hermione, Krum's over there, he wants to talk to you, go see him, and I'll just leave."

He turned to go, but Hermione grabbed him. "Harry, dishonesty does not flatter you. Trust me."

The crowd had gone silent now. With all of the noise gone, Harry could see several students from Hogwarts in the crowd. Everybody had their eyes fixed on Harry, Hermione Ron and now Krum who had come into the circle.

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and stood next to Krum, glaring at Harry.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about Harry?"

Harry looked helplessly around, first at Ron who shrugged.

"Hey don't look at me mate; it was your 'brilliant' plan remember?"

Hermione stared at him. "Plan?"

Ron smirked. "Actually, I'm very surprised that it's taken you this long to figure it out Hermione, after all, Harry's been hopelessly in love with you for- OUCH!"

Harry had stepped on his foot, very hard. The spectators in the pub gasped as a single crowd, all like they were watching a play. More like a soap opera. A really bad soap opera crossed with a Shakespearean tragedy. Harry felt like the tragic hero, about to fall to his miserable fate. If he wasn't so dumbstruck and embarrassed he would have actually have been contemplating ways he could have met his downfall right now. Maybe poison, or death by sword. Or a fantastic duel with Krum.

Three guesses who would win. He might talk like Yoda but Harry was sure that Krum let his body guards do the talking when someone got in his way; he was in no mood to have that conversation.

Harry sighed sarcastically. "Thanks Ron."

"A pleasure it is." Ron said with a smirk, apparently pleased with himself.

Hermione was looking from Harry to Krum to Ron. And then her eyes fixed on Harry. It was rather like being drilled into like a machine. Her gaze was so intense he couldn't look at her for very long.

"Can we discuss this somewhere else?" Harry asked desperately.

"No, we talk here and now." said Krum. It was the first time he had spoken in all of this and he was looking very angry. The entire pub was holding their breath and Harry was on the verge of storming out of there because he'd about had enough when,

"Harry…please…" Hermione's voice was very small and she looked anxious again.

He sighed. Hadn't he done enough for her already? Why should he have to put himself through more just for her when she didn't even love him?

He sighed yet again, and started talking. And once he began, he couldn't stop. He just kept going and going.

"Look, after you were all upset about Krum's dumping you, I came up with an idea to get you and Krum back together by writing letters to each of you. Ron wrote one from Krum to you and I wrote one from you to Krum. The letters were written differently however and they had you meeting in the wrong places so today we had to bring you here to meet him. And last week I came here and asked Madame Rosmerta to do this surprise for you and Krum in here. And I've had a hell of a time doing this because even though I'm trying to get you together with Krum it's not because I want that. I've been doing all this crap for you because …"

He stopped. Hermione had her mouth hanging open and Krum was staring in shock, apparently not convinced his letter from Hermione had been written by a 16 year old boy.

Ron was gaping at Harry with the rest of the crowd. You could've heard a pin drop.

"Because why?" Hermione finally managed to ask.

"Because…" He sighed. There was no use in trying to hide it any longer.

"Because I love you."

There was a slowly intake of breath form the crowd watching and Harry felt his face go red.

"You love….love… you love…._me_?" she was struggling for words, apparently shocked.

Harry nodded, not looking at her, but at the floor. The tiles were very pretty. All gold and silver. And those designs were pretty too, swirled. What was that? A speck of dust on the floor? Perhaps he could sink into the floor and join the speck. That would be lovely.

Ron interrupted the silence. "Ok we get it, you love Hermione, but that still doesn't explain why this little party went off for you two and not Hermione and Mr. Shakespeare here."

"I dunno, "Harry snapped sharply, glaring over at the skinny little bar tender. "I suggest you ask Madam Rosmerta."

Then he stormed out of the pub.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry walked out of the pub and slammed the door very hard behind him. He didn't really have a clue where he was going, only that he really wanted to escape this nightmare he was caught in.

All his weeks of planning had been thrown out the window by Ron and his big mouth, Hermione and her big thirst for knowledge and Madame Rosmerta and her big nose always sticking into other people's business.

After everything he had done, couldn't one little party for two people go as planned?

Apparently not.

And now, to make matters even better, Hermione knew how he felt about her, and now she'd hate him forever. Perfect. He could almost see his potions grade, nose-diving 60 points and crashing face first without a built in tutor as a best friend. He stopped.

60 points?

That would actually make his potions grade almost a zero. Wow. Ron would be very impressed.

That is, if he was speaking with Ron-which he decided as he walked up to the castle-he wasn't.

Before he knew it, he found himself inside the castle, and with a lack of where to go to hide from the world. Everybody knew by now. Half of Hogsmeade had watched the entire scene in the pub and the other half…well…news traveled quickly and now he was enduring glances as he walked through the entrance hall and whispers of, "There's the guy who got his heart broken in front of the whole town of Hogsmeade."

He went up to the common room and slumped into a chair, staring at the fire, feeling very sorry for himself.

After about half an hour, the common room door opened and Colin Creevy dashed in. He looked very excited and he was holding a bunch of objects in his hands. Roses and confetti.

The roses, Harry recognized as the 10 galleons roses he had bought for the party. The confetti looked as though it had been scraped off the floor.

"Hiya Harry!" Colin Creevy yelling coming in front of Harry. "Guess what!"

Harry looked up into Colin's eager face, hoping to hear something along the lines of,

"Krum's gone forever, Hermione's rushing up here to tell you that she loves you too and the pub incident never happened", but unfortunately what he heard was,

"I got shot by shot pictures of it all Harry! Every single second is here on my camera!"

He patted his camera fondly. Harry groaned.

"Well," Colin said, thoughtfully. "Well, they WERE on my camera."

Harry gritted his teeth. "_Were_?"

"Uh huh, I sold them to this lady outside the pub who said she'd pay me nicely for them. A Miss Skeeter I think it was."

"WHAT?" Harry bolted up from the chair. "You…you sold shot by shot pictures of all that to Rita Skeeter?"

Colin suddenly looked frightened. "Did I do something wrong?"

Harry sighed and shoved passed him to go up to the dormitories.

He sat down on his bed with a thud and took off his glassed, rubbing his eyes.

The door opened and Ron came in.

"Hey…"

Harry didn't say anything.

"Look, Harry, I'm really sorry about everything that happened back there. I didn't think it would go that far…."

"Oh really?" Harry snapped. He knew he was being a little mean to Ron and he looked up into his friends imploring face. He really needed a friend right now, and at least Ron was talking to him and not laughing at him.

He relented and asked slowly, "Does everybody know?"

Ron looked guilty. "Well, no, not really, not everybody, I mean some people don't…."

Harry stared at him.

"Yeah" Ron finished lamely. "Everybody knows."

"Great!" Harry exclaimed sarcastically. "Perfect. Tomorrow, I'm gonna get laughed at by everyone in the school, completely ignored by Hermione and pulverized by Krum."

Ron suddenly jumped. "Oh, that reminds me! Krum said to give this to you."

He handed Harry a sheet of parchment.

Harry gulped and looked at Ron. "Krum wrote this? For me?"

Ron sat back down, looking green. "After you left, he wanted to catch up to you, but I told him to stay with Hermione, who looked like she was going through some sort of septic shock, and so, he wrote this down and told me to give it to you."

Harry only heard up till, 'septic shock'. "What d'you mean, shock?"

Ron sighed "I dunno, shock, you know, something she didn't expect just happened and she's shocked! But in a good way maybe? I mean, that was a pretty brutal way for her to hear about how you feel about her. I dunno…read the letter."

Harry looked down at it. Half of him didn't want to know what Krum's reaction to everything was. Half of him was dying to know. He gave a sigh and opened the letter slowly and attempted to read,

Harry Potter,

After that incident happen, like to request you to meet with me I would. Is Hogwarts library ok for you? I can get in. I tell headmaster I go to study. Meet me you would? Is day after tomorrow good? Noon? Talk to you I would like because much I have to say to you I do. Worry you not, Hermione not know about meeting of ours. Tell nobody I won't.

Good bye to say hello again in library

Viktor Krum

Harry looked up to see Ron, eager to read the letter himself, now that he was convinced it was not horrible news. Harry was about the hand it over when he saw the look on Ron's face. It was one of intense evil pleasure.

"Oh no Ron, if I give this to you, you're gonna be quoting it for months."

Ron snatched it out of his hands wickedly and devoured it, reading really fast his eyes alight as they read over the grammatical errors all over the page. When he'd finished he cracked up.

"Yes! This is great! He even added to my all time favorite. Good bye to say hello again in library!"

Harry was now lost in thought. Should he meet Krum in the library? Or should he not? Tomorrow was a Saturday so he wouldn't have to face Hermione or anyone else tomorrow. Then on Sunday he'd go to the library and …what? Be pummeled? Attacked by the beaters on Krum's team? Or actually sit down and have a conversation over a girl both of them loved? Would he be angry about the two letters?

He sighed and looked over at Ron who was still reading the letter.

"I'm going to go." Harry said finally.

"What?"

"I'm going tot go talk to Krum in the library on Sunday."

Ron shook his head and quipped, "Crazy you are."


	7. Chapter 7

Harry was feeling slightly less confident the next morning when he woke up at around noon. The entire dormitory was deserted and everybody had gone down to breakfast. Harry really didn't feel like joining them. For one, he wouldn't be able to sit with Ron and Hermione as usual because Hermione most likely wouldn't want to speak with him, and Ron, well, he knew almost for a fact that Ron was down there either telling everybody about Krum's letter, or quoting it.

Either way, it wasn't an inviting prospect.

So he stayed in bed for another hour, staring at the top of his four poster, thinking about Krum and his impending visit to the library to 'talk'. Lovely.

How bad could it be? Krum may be twice his size, but he was better with a wand.

"I'll just jinx him" Harry said sleepily sitting up. "Or curse him. That works too."

Then he suddenly envisioned himself surrounded by 300-pound beaters from Krum's Quidditch team, and Hermione's comment about how they had sold wood bats. He groaned and buried his head in his pillow again.

Finally, he got up and slowly got dressed. He decided upon on sitting in the common room and doing some homework. When everybody came up from breakfast, he'd go back upstairs and hide out. Perfect. And eternal day on the run, dodging glances and comments.

He wasn't any stranger to that kind of thing anyhow.

He was able to enjoy the solitude of the still and silent common room for about an hour. Then he started to get very hungry, and people began to drift in form breakfast. It was only when he spotted the two Creevy brothers running in through the portrait hole that he decided to go down at last, and try to avoid anybody he knew.

He was cornered however, by both Creevy brothers and he didn't have the heart to throw them against the wall in a desperate attempt to escape.

He seriously thought about it however.

"Hiya Harry…guess what!"

Harry looked down at Colin and saw something clutched in his hands. He didn't need Dennis's explanation to figure out what it might be.

"Look Harry, you made the front page with those pictures I gave Ms. Skeeter. And a four page article too!"

"Oh wow." Harry said with no real feeling.

"We're famous too!" Dennis continued with a shriek. "It talks about us in the article and says we gave the pictures to her!"

"Everyone in school has a copy…more people to see our names!" They were jumping up and down in excitement.

Harry looked up at the people coming in the portrait hole and noticed they all had a copy of the Daily Prophet. And everybody seemed to be glancing over at him, giggling.

He snatched the paper from Colin. The headline read,

HARRY POTTER GETS REJECTED IN PUBLIC SCANDAL

"I didn't get rejected!" Harry exclaimed angrily. "I never even…."

He stopped midsentence and the paper back at the two beaming boys. Then he stomped down to breakfast.

There were a few people left at the Gryffindor table. All of them were sitting down, reading the paper. Harry felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. If people didn't know about the incident yesterday, they'd know about it now. He sat down and suddenly gulped.

Hermione was sitting two seats down across from him eating a piece of toast with some eggs. She didn't look up at him when he sat down. Harry sighed, and began to dish himself some eggs.

She hated him. That was almost certain now. There went any ideas he'd had of her maybe discovering she loved him too. As he was eating his breakfast a sudden horrible thought occurred to him. What if their friendship was gone too? Would it ever be a trio again? Himself, Ron and Hermione had been three best friends since first year…would all that be lost?

He took a deep breath and swallowed the last of his pumpkin juice and slid two seats over to be in front of her. She didn't look up.

"Hermione..."

She looked up at him. Her face didn't show any feeling or emotion, just a blank expression. "Yes?"

"Look…about yesterday…I really didn't mean for all of that to happen…"

"Harry?"

He blinked. "What?"

She gathered up her books and slid off the bench. "I really don't want to talk about this right now, ok? Just…just give me a few days and then I'll be ready."

She left, her robes swirling around her. It was only then that he realized that everybody in the entire hall was staring at him.

As soon as they figured out that he knew they were all watching there was sudden outbreak of chatter as they turned back to their own conversations.

"Smooth" He muttered to himself, imagining Ron saying something along the lines of, "Sucked that did."

He finished his breakfast and went back upstairs to do homework until dinner. Then he was going to sleep for a century.

He didn't sleep for a century. He woke up at about 7:00 the next morning, worrying about the meeting with Krum again.

Ron sat up in bed and looked over at him. "Today's the day of your sorry suicide Harry. Are you ready?"

"Shut up. I feel awful as it is already. You don't think you could maybe go see Krum and tell him that I'm really sick?"

Ron stared at him. "Sick?"

Harry groaned. "Yeah, ok, I know, it's stupid."

Ron clucked his tongue sounding very much like Hermione.

"Just go and get it over with. You're in Hogwarts, what can he possibly do?"

"A lot. Trust me. He really likes Hermione. If he thought I was trying to steal her or something…"

"Which you were." Ron interjected. "Just go. Trust me on this."

Harry glared at him. "All right, all right, I'll go."

A few hours later, Harry was standing outside the library, pacing. He didn't want to go in, but he didn't want to stay out here, wondering what Krum had to say to him.

He shook his head. "I must be insane. This is without a doubt the craziest thing I've ever done. Including all the stupid things I do at the end of every year."

Ron's face popped into his head, wishing him farewell before his inevitable execution.

"Good bye never to say hello again."

He gave a wry grin and opened the door

(A/N Hey to all! I'm really glad that you guys like it so far! It's been so much fun to write and now I've gotten it all down so I'll be updating a lot more! And now, in the light of Book 6 out, I'm also gonna start a new story along with this one, so that'll be fun to. Allright, well keep reviewing! Thanks for everyhting. Goodbye to say hello again! )


	8. Books

The door slowly opened and Harry stepped inside, his hand poised on his wand, hidden inside his robes. The library was quiet. There was some suppressed talking, pages rustling and quills scratching but other than that, Harry felt pretty sure it was quiet enough for the entire library to here the confrontation that might go on here. It was just asking for more gossip to spread about the whole situation. He could just see Rita Skeeter handing out hundreds of galleons to Colin Creevy, who in turn handed out pictures to her like post-it notes.

Readjusting his book bag, he sighed and went to sit down at a nearby table. Krum obviously wasn't here yet, and so he felt he's better wait where Krum could see him when he came in the door. He'd brought his things, thinking he could at least look like he was working on something while he was sitting in here. Madame Pince hated it when people used her library as anything other than a "precious source of literary knowledge" as she called it.

He sighed and leaned back in the chair, taking his hand off his wand, glad he hadn't been pummeled to death the minute he'd walked in. Glad he was even still alive at this point.

He was deathly curious as to why Krum had wanted to meet him alone in the Hogwarts Library. And why not tell Hermione about it?

"Potter!"

His head snapped up. Madame Pince was staring down at him from her desk.

"Come here!"

Harry stared at her. "What?"

"Come here Potter! Good Lord boy, are you deaf?"

Harry stumbled to his feet and walked the few paces to stand in front of her.

"Here you go, this is for you." She handed him a piece of paper.

"For me?"

Madame Pince stared at him, as thought questioning his sanity. "Are you sure you're quite all right Potter? You're acting very odd."

Harry took the paper and went back to the table to wait for Krum and read it. He glanced once more up at the librarian but she'd already busied herself whacking a first year over the head with a dictionary because he'd dropped it in the lake.

He pulled open the letter and looked at it. It looked like Krum's handwriting. And it certainly had grammatical problems. He scanned through the letter, and his mouth fell open. Then, he read it again, this time slower.

It read:

_Tomorrow, me meet in Three Broomsticks noon. Two can play this game. Warned be. _

Harry stared down at it in shock. What was this? Was Krum not going to meet him here at all? This was just a way for him to get this letter? Then, why hadn't he written this on the original letter?

Harry sighed and tossed the letter on the table to stare at it. Now, he'd have to worry until tomorrow. Why couldn't Krum just have come here to meet him instead of postponing it till tomorrow in a different place?

And what did he mean by 'two can play this game'? Harry kicked the leg of the table hard, letting out his frustration. Krum was being so bloody annoying!

He stood up, grabbed the paper and rolled his eyes. Then he went off to find Ron.

"Ron! Ron!"

Ron looked up form his Charms homework. "Well, you're in one piece I see, how did it go?"

Harry threw himself into he chair across from Ron and handed him the note.

"He never showed up. He just left this note with Madame Pince for me. Read it. Go on."

Ron looked at him, and then grabbed the note, eagerly anticipating the subject verb disagreements.

He read it then looked up, stumped. "So, you meet him in the Three Broomsticks tomorrow? Where the whole party fiasco took place? That doesn't sound too bad. I mean, at least there will be a lot of people there to stop him from killing you."

"Yeah, but more people to gossip about it when it's over."

"You're going to go right?"

Harry glanced up. "I don't think I really have a choice. He wants to see me and talk, and there's a slight possibility he's not really mad at me so, I might as well take that chance."

As he spoke, Harry looked down at the Charms essay Ron was struggling through. He scanned the first few lines. It was awful. Clearly, Ron didn't have a clue as to what he was doing.

"You need some serious help on this before you turn it in." Harry said pointedly.

Ron nodded. "I know. But I haven't seen Hermione all day, and I don't know who else to ask to help me."

"Rewrite it for you, you mean."

Ron grinned. "You think I actually paid attention to replacement charms? I spent the class period we learned all this writing that letter to Hermione from Krum."

Harry grinned. "Well mate, I'd help you, but I don't know the first thing about them either. Looks like you're just going to have to track down Hermione. Good luck."

"Nah, won't be too hard to find her." Ron said, looking at the portrait hole.

"Why not?"

"Here she comes."

Harry whipped around, feeling his stomach do a thousand flip flops. His face was going very red. He hadn't planned on seeing Hermione after that incident in the Great Hall the other day. Not for a very long time at least.

She strode over to the two of them. Harry shrunk backwards into his chair, hoping to look invisible and wishing that he actually had his cloak with him.

"Hermione!" Ron grinned as she came over. "You are just the girl I need to see right now. Do you know anything about Replacement charms? This bloody essay is driving me crazy, and I don't have a clue. Please, help me!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and dropped a book on the table. "Here Harry, you forgot this in the library when you left."

Harry looked own at his History of Magic book.

"Thanks" he muttered.

She nodded and then looked over at Ron. "Here, let me have the essay. I'll read it and then give it back to you later."

Ron passed it over weakly. "You are an amazing person Hermione. Amazing. Wonderful."

Hermione kicked his in the shin gently and then looked at Harry. "Do you need help with yours too?"

"No, I'm good thanks."

Hermione nodded again then turned and went up the girls' staircase.

"How did she know?" Harry asked Ron slowly.

"Know what?"

"Know I was in the library?"

Ron snorted. "Harry, she lives in the library. It's like her second dorm room. She was probably in there when you were, saw you leave it, and brought it back. Lucky for me she did too, so she can help me on my essay."

Harry nodded. Then he suddenly gasped. "Ron, I didn't bring my History of Magic textbook with me to the library."

Ron laughed. "Yes you did. It's right there in front of you!"

Harry shook his head and opened the front cover of the book. "It's not mine Ron."

They leaned forward and read the first page of the book.

Property of Hermione Granger.


	9. The Missing Piece

Harry and Ron both looked up from the inside cover of the book at the same time.

"Bloody Hell" Ron breathed quietly, his eyes wide and excited. "Harry…it's a sign. "

Harry raised his eyebrows. "A sign?"

Ron nodded vigorously. "Well, either that or a really huge mistake but I doubt it. Hermione never makes mistakes."

Harry leaned back in his chair and thought. "So, I have this meeting with Krum in Hogsmeade tomorrow, and now this…you know, if it got any more complicated it would require as much thinking as Transfigurations."

"Or Potions. " Ron offered with a smirk. "Lots of thinking that is!"

Harry put Hermione's book back on the table. Then, on second thought, he turned around again and picked it back up. "I'm gonna go up to the dormitory and look through this."

It was Ron's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Look through it? Why? It's the same as yours only with little notes and quill markings. Oh, and that list of books that she's read for fun and thinks might actually be useful for NEWT's."

Harry nodded. "I know, but I still…she didn't give this to me on accident, and judging by the way she brushed me off at breakfast, well, this might a response…I dunno…."

His voice trialed off and he tucked the book under his arm and picked up his bag. "I'm gonna go to the dormitory ok?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, I'll be up soon."

Harry went up the stair case and started up. He was about halfway up the stairs when he heard a voice say, "Well, what did he think?"

He stopped dead in his tracks. It was Hermione's voice. She was back in the common room and with Ron.

Harry gently set his bag down on the stairs and crept back down till he could just see what was going on.

Hermione had come back in and was sitting across form Ron.

Ron looked up and saw her coming. "You listened to all of that? Sad that is."

Hermione swatted at him. "No, seriously Ron, what do you think he thinks about it."

Ron sighed. "First, clue me in on what you're trying to do here Hermione. I know you know more than you're letting on and I know you're not telling me somehting. C'mon, I gave you that letter for Harry after that day in the pub, and he fell for it. Now what's with this second note?"

Harry caught himself as he almost fell off the stairs. He rethought everything Ron had just said in this mind. Hermione wrote that letter that said to meet in the library? Hermione? And Ron knew about it? He bent forwards, straining to hear more of this.

"I chickened out." Hermione confessed, fiddling with the quills on the table. "I didn't want to face him after…after everything and so, I left him another note hoping that I can work up the nerve before tomorrow at noon…."

Ron leaned back in his chair. "Is that when this whole thing is gonna end then? Tomorrow?"

Hermione nodded. "Well, I hope he reads that book, I left a note in there from Krum to me…"

"You mean from yourself to yourself…" Ron interjected with a smirk.

"Yes, yes, you know what I mean Ronald Weasley."

Harry was gripping the wall so hard he felt like his hand was going to break off. So Krum was never going to meet him at all? This was a ploy to make him feel even more stupid that he already did? To just make a fool out of him? Was she really that hurt?

He turned and stormed up the stair, because he couldn't bear to hear anymore of it.

He knew she was upset about the whole letter thing he and Ron –well, _he_ had come up with -but that gave her no right to just rub it in his face like this, like he didn't have any feelings about it.

He kicked the door as he went into the dorm; not caring that is was so loud they clearly must have heard it.

He threw himself onto the bed with Hermione's book fuming. He didn't care at this point whether or not Hermione was mad at him forever about the pub incident. He was mad at her now, and they were even.

He had no desire to read the supposed "clue" that was in her book. He felt that if he read it he would only be ridiculing himself.

However, he had left the common room listening post too soon.

He left before he heard the last part of their conversation.

"So, what are you going to tell him when you see him?" Ron asked looking over at Hermione.

"I dunno….I really don't know what to say actually. That's where I was hoping you could help me."

Ron gave a whoop. "Me? Help you…qualified I don't know if I am…."

"Please, I have to let him know I'm not mad at him for any of it, just flattered and relived because…"

Ron leaned forward, pressing for more information.

"Well, I love him too…"


	10. A New Clue

Harry tossed and turned in his bed for awhile when Ron finally came up. Ron, not knowing that Harry had been listening to the entire conversation (minus the final crucial bit) downstairs didn't think to wonder if anything was wrong with harry, but instead put on a façade.

"Hey, did you find anything in her book?"

Harry had to admit, Ron's acting was on par. He almost fooled him, and he knew it was an act.

"No!" Harry longed to throw at him. "And I wonder why?"

But he didn't instead he just said with a shrug. "Nah must've been a mistake on her part."

Ron, who earlier had said somehting along the lines of "Hermione never makes mistakes", just shrugged back. "Yeah, I guess so."

Harry wasn't sure what to think anymore about Ron. All he knew was that Hermione hated him enough about the pub that he'd played this cruel trick on him, and gotten Ron to be a pawn in it. Well, Ron was perfect for that; he was brilliant at chess.

Ron sat down on his bed. "So are you gonna meet Krum tomorrow in the pub?"

Meet Hermione you mean. Harry thought bitterly.

"I dunno."

Ron suddenly got worried. "B-but you have to!"

"Oh?"

Ron scrambled for words to get Harry to go, but not spoil his secret. "Because, what if what Krum wants to tell you is really important?"

Harry inwardly grinned. He had just realized the best way to go about this awkward conversation. He was going to play with Ron's mind a little bit. Ron had no idea, obviously that Harry had heard about Hermione's trick, and he knew that Ron would never tell, if he could help it. This could get interesting. It was time to push Yoda's buttons.

"Well, I don't see any point in rising to Krum's bait." Harry said conversationally leaning back on his pillow's a small smile playing at his lips. Ron shook his head.

"I don't think its bait Harry…I uh…really think you should go!"

"But why? I mean, I know Hermione hates me, and so, why make her boyfriend hate me to? Well, he already hates me. I just don't want him to get physical….solid wooden-"

"-bats…yeah, I remember." Ron said, still struggling for words, and going very red. "Look, Harry, you need to go ok? Don't ask me why, I'm just telling you that if you don't you will regret it."

Harry nearly lost it. Ron was just setting him up here! And he was his friend? Harry knew full well that if he went to the pub tomorrow, Hermione would be waiting and she's give him hell, in payback for all the embarrassment he put her though when it was the other way around. And Ron was trying to make him go to this?

"I'm not doing it!" Harry said firmly. "I don't want to."

Ron stood up so fast that his head hit the top of the bed. Mumbling somehting about brain cells, he danced on the spot for a minute, reducing the pain, and then looked at Harry, eyes watery.

"Harry, I'm telling you…look, mate, I'd never tell you to go if I don't think you really should."

Harry eyed him. "And how is it that you know so much about this Ron?"

Ron went bright red on top of his injury and glanced nervously about before answering weakly, "It's a gut feeling."

"Right." Harry said, throwing his arms behind his head. "And I suppose you are completely oblivious to the fact that Hermione might be in on this too?"

Ron's eyes shot up form where they were, fastened on the floor; consequently, he banged the back of his head on the bed.

"Hurt that did" He whimpered feebly before sinking onto the bed in defeat (Harry also had a shrewd suspicion he couldn't see straight) and looking up at Harry.

"What makes you say that?"

Harry decided the game was up. "And what about you? Are you in this little joke too?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play stupid with me Ron. I heard you talking with Hermione down in the common room after you thought I'd come up here. About how that letter form Krum after the pub was from her, Krum's not gonna meet me there, Hermione is, and your trying to help her get me there so she can make fun or me there. Well, fine. She can do what she wants. I know she's upset about everything that's happened with the letters but that doesn't mean she can treat me like this Ron."

Ron stared at him for a seconded, and then said, "Hey, hey give me some credit here; _I_ am the only one here who can write Krum talk decently, it was _me_ who wrote the letter for you."

Harry cocked an eyebrow.

"Oops." Ron said slowly.

"Yeah." Harry said sarcastically. "Oops."

Then suddenly, Ron looked up again. "Hey, wait… back up for a second, Hermione's not gonna make fun of you tomorrow!"

Harry laughed. "Oh really? And what is she gonna do? Humiliate me? Ok…loads better."

Ron shook his head.

"She going to tell you that…."

"Yes?"

Ron shook his head. "She'll tell you then."

Harry groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Worry you shouldn't" Ron said with a smirk, before lying down on his pillow to massage his bruised head.


End file.
